Is anyone going to watch this on Wednesday? I don't think I would've considered bothering except that it has Dom in it... I saw a sneak preview and halfway through, he had a lot of lines so that bodes well. I'm just wondering how the whole plotline will end up -- there's some creature out in the jungle that killed the pilot and others on this flight, but no one knows what it is. If it's a dinosaur, I swear...

It's here, it's here, it's finally here! JJ Abrams' Lost premieres this Wednesday--you'd better be writing this down--at 8 p.m., before the new Bachelor (and sadly, up against Smallville, but we'll get to that in a bit).

Lost is already getting positive buzz from the general public (check out our Watch/Pass Poll results) and critics (the panel session at the TCA Press Tour was standing room only). "It seemed that people were enthusiastic in general this year," JJ tells me, "and also about Desperate Housewives and about Lost, which is really flattering."

That said, we all know how critics' darlings (and my faves) normally fare (Wonderfalls, Freaks and Geeks, Boomtown, etc.), so I really should be telling you Lost is the worst thing we've seen since The Mullets. But I cannot lie! Lost is (in my humble opinion) the best new series of the season, which is why I've done everything short of selling my body to promote this show. I even, out of the kindness of my selfless heart, agreed to go to Hawaii a few weeks ago to cover the premiere in Honolulu. (I give. I do.)

Lost is about survivors of a plane crash stranded on a deserted island, so naturally, at the premiere, the Gilligan's Island jokes were running wild. Castmember Daniel Dae Kim (Angel, 24), God bless his silly soul, said he's working on his "coconut bike." He also suggested I wash ashore as a guest star and fashion a microphone out of bamboo. Evangeline Lilly thought she and I could shack up in a hut as the new Ginger and Mary Ann.

But Lost is slightly different from Gilligan's Island (insert: sarcasm), and I think Yoon-Jin Kim (who plays Sun) describes it best. "In each episode, we'll discover layer upon layer to each character. This is about a bunch of people who've lost something. And on this mysterious island, we hope to find whatever it is we lost, whether that's forgiving someone or moving on or finding ourselves."

The Lost cast includes a mixture of proven faves (Matthew Fox of Party of Five and Dominic Monaghan of The Lord of the Rings) and newcomers like Lilly. And she's bound to incur the wrath of aspiring actresses everywhere--it's her first speaking role, and she's the leading lady, opposite Fox.

"I'm from snowy Canada," she muses. "I popped out of an igloo and landed in a palm tree, and I'm the luckiest girl in the world."

Evie, as they call her on set (Matthew Fox is Foxy), was nearly the sole lead on the series. In the original pilot, Matthew Fox's character, Jack, was killed off halfway through the episode in a jaw-dropping twist. "Apparently," Fox explains, "people reading the script were like, 'You can't do it, you just can't do it.' So, Jack got to live, and I got to stay." (And I think I speak for ladies everywhere when I say: Thank you, J.C.)

The entire first season of Lost takes place in the span of only one month. And in the first ep, we learn the island is not what it seems--there's something, well, monstrous, living on it.

"I don't have any idea [what it is]," Foxy tells me when milked for spoilers, "and I don't even use the M-word for it, because I'm not sure it is a monster. I just know it's fast, and it does serious damage."

After spending time on set and at the premiere, I can tell you: Just like Alias and Felicity before them, the cast and crew of Lost are some of the most genuine people you'll ever meet. "We're family, we mesh, it's incredible," Ian Somerhalder tells me. "It sounds cheesy, but it's true."

They're so tight, they've already formed a friendly little rivalry with a fellow Hawaii-based series, Hawaii on NBC. I asked Terry O'Quinn (Alias, Millenium) if he has run into the other actors. "I haven't really talked to those guys, outside of going by and honking my horn and shouting obscenities," he deadpans.

Is anyone going to watch this on Wednesday? I'm just wondering how the whole plotline will end up -- there's some creature out in the jungle that killed the pilot and others on this flight, but no one knows what it is. If it's a dinosaur, I swear...

I'll be watching - you better believe I'll be watching!

Number one, Dom's in it (a great big "Yay" in itself). Number two, J.J. Abrams created it, and I love his stuff (he did 'Alias', my all-time favorite drama, too). And number three, it actually looks interesting.

I read an article on it the other day, and it seems it's more a psychological thriller than anything. All of these people are hiding things about them, and each one is 'lost' in their own right.

There is some kind of 'monster', but Abrams says it's not exactly a "main attraction". Yes, it kills people, and yes, it terroizes and does damage. But supposedly you never see it - it just represents this primal fear, and brooding evil. Which is pretty cool - I think that fear will tie into the characters somehow.

But all this is really speculation. I guess we'll all just have to wait until Wednesday to see what we really think!

I think it sounds interesting. I too hope the monster thing isn't a dinosaur. That'd be horrible. Hmm...since it comes on the same time as Smallville, which is my favorite show I must watch, I'll record it and watch it later. I'm not much of a Dom fan but I still love him!